Owning Your Intuition: You DO Receive Guidance

At the end of one of my two-part workshops on developing intuition, I was speaking with a participant who had shown to be very in touch with her intuition from the first day of class. On the last evening, she informed me that on that very night, during one of the group exercises, she had actually “seen” the office space of her group partner and described it in detail. This person shared that this had “never happened before” and seemed pleased. Her partner confirmed the accuracy.

Later that weekend, I was reviewing my feedback forms and noted that this same participant had indicated on her form that she had experienced “no shift” from session one to session two of the workshop.

No shift – nothing new. I’m not sure what she was expecting, but seeing something as clearly as “The Medium” would be pretty cool to a lot of people. In fact, I know people who are aspiring to achieve this ability.

I’ve thought about this for months and realized that this woman provided a wonderful example of how we are guided and gifted all the time, yet don’t notice or acknowledge it. Within a matter of minutes she simultaneously filled out a form indicating “no shift” while verbally telling me that she had, for the first time, tuned into a different channel of intuitive knowing.

I love it! What a fabulous example of what we human beings do every single day. We minimize or ignore the Divine speaking to or through us while lamenting that “nothing happens”, “I never get any guidance”, or “my intuition doesn’t work”!

Regardless of your religious orientation, from the great saints to more modern day spiritualists, from Jesus to Buddha, the consistent teaching is that we are not alone. We are guided and we receive signs, symbols, and synchronicities every day. Yet, why do we act like the woman from my workshop? Like her, are you receiving gifts, messages or information yet telling yourself, convincing yourself that there is “no shift”?

Here are some thoughts. Maybe you just don’t like how you receive the information. Maybe you think that someone else’s way of receiving guidance is better or more exciting. Or perhaps you hear about other people’s experiences with the Divine, cheerlead and glorify theirs while minimizing your own. Somehow you believe that another’s experience is more valuable – or trustworthy. Or perhaps you see someone else’s journey as more glamorous or spiritual.

Please, stop comparing. These are judgments and fears emanating from the ego. These thoughts are also just a convenient distraction to keep us from experiencing our own relationship, our own way of communicating with the Divine. This behavior is an excuse. How? Because if we actually acknowledged that we received guidance then we would actually be . . . yup, responsible! It’s easier to act as if we aren’t guided than to step out in faith and act upon the guidance that we receive. We neglect to develop, nurture and acknowledge our own unique communication channel and choose instead to experience loneliness, frustration and a lack of joy.

Do you know the means by which the Divine connects to you? Have you claimed it? Newsbreak - it’s not the same for everyone because it’s not supposed to be. The Divine communicates to you by the means which is best for your unique and wonderful self to receive guidance. Hearing, seeing, sensing, tasting, smelling, word pictures, colors, feelings, songs on the radio, animals, vanity plates, billboards, a comment from a stranger . . . all these are possible valid ways by which your highest guidance may communicate with you. It’s like your own personal code with the Divine.

Every day we receive ideas, thoughts and insights that will make our experience on this earth plane easier. Now more than ever, it is crucial that we tune into this loving guidance. Are you willing to take responsibility for nurturing this relationship? If so, here are some tips:

Relax - Trust me, guidance has an easier time of presenting itself when you are more relaxed and not trying to force it

Stop spending time and energy comparing how someone else is being spoken to and use that time and energy to nurture your own communication channel

Realize that daily guidance usually comes in “soft” ways, not the 60 piece marching band, burning bush, or megaphone kind of style

Get excited and realize the value of the little messages – resist the temptation to brush off “small signs” as nothing or insignificant

Begin to keep track of any time you sense your guidance – make a list

Ask if your expectations are such that they are causing you to miss moments of connections, shifts, clarity or answers to prayer

Finally, EMBRACE the ways that you uniquely receive support and guidance. This is your unique relationship with the Divine, just for you!

So Pinkies, how have you touched into your intuition? Have you always known that's what it was? Might you be getting guidance now, but not recognizing it as such?

dear Audrey
lovely insightful post. I listen in more carefully now than I used to. LIttle voice is always right on, even about taking sunglasses with me even when it's cloudy. There's the sun, whaddyaknow. It advises me constantly, am learning to turn up volume on inner wisdom, turn down self-doubt. Don't second guess. Intuition brings responsibility, sure, but it is teaching me that I already know the answers to my questions, just sit with it a bit and it comes louder and clearer. Enjoying Pink Posts!

Fabulous post Audrey! And this guidance that is open to all of us is also empowerment open to all of us. I was thinking how this relates to a previous post on Owning Pink regarding meditating in your own way, and that we all have access to Enlightenment, to Healing Power, to Divine Sight, to all the wonderful gifts we marvel at in others, but we constantly dwell in our expectations instead of in our actual experience. If we let go of expectations and were just ourselves, in the moment, so much magic would be present we couldn't help but feel astonished joy! When we really relax into ourselves and our own perceptions, then it seems almost everything we experience contains meaning and information, everything we do contains power and purpose. And I agree, it can be a bummer when the guidance is what we DON'T want to hear, but when you think about it, if there is something we don't want to hear it's because we know that what we don't want is what's right, and we are hoping to avoid that... we already know the outcome, just are fighting it still... so better to have it pointed out and help us get through it faster and easier.

I have to share the dream I had last night, since my intuition seems to show up as images in dreams a lot. Last night's image was very vivid. It was a huge, glowing hand-woven basket, the size of a house. The woven willow branches criss-crossed each other in opposite directions. In one direction, there were healers. In the other, those in need of healing. In the center of the basket was a person, and the basket was suspended from a golden string suspending the basket like a hot air balloon. When the breeze blew, the basket would rock, and the person within it would be embraced, loved, lulled to serenity.

I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I have a feeling it has something to do with Owning Pink....

Not only are our bodies a major channel for intuitive knowing, but they definitely let us know when they want a walk, to slow down, or just not to have that fifth Fudgesicle.

Thank you for the perfect example about the frogs. This is exactly what today's post is about and you nailed it. Your friend is too busy looking at your signs to see her own. Hmmmm - not worthy? Not "good enough" signs?

Thanks you for this post. I feel like I've been ignoring my intuition a lot over the past weeks. My body has certainly been letting me know when I am not making good use of my time, yet I haven't initiated a change in my activities.

On another note I wanted to share a situation similar to the one you wrote about. One of my best friends passed away almost a month ago. I have gotten a lot of "signs" from her, particularly frogs. She loved frogs and I now see them everywhere -real frogs, toy frogs, decorative frog. A couple of weeks ago another friend called crying, telling me how she hasn't gotten any "signs". She said she wants to see frogs too, but she hasn't, not a one. Then she goes on to tell me that every time she does a search in her email inbox this one particular email from Amy pops up, even when it doesn't relate to the search. THAT is her sign and she doesn't even realize it b/c she's too busy looking for frogs.

Unfortunately you are so correct! We do cause ourselves needless hardship when we don't follow our clues to an easier path. Our souls are genius, genius women! Kim is right when she said it makes our lives better. Our intuition guides us to what we need and what is best for us. It's our best friend and as Kim mentioned, it's a part of who we are. It's our inherent Divine essence. Breathe it in and allow it to do what it does best! Our internal guidance system does not want us to suffer, it wants us to be free!

Hey - doesn't mean that each step feels like bon bon land. I was guided to move somewhere years ago that ended up being the toughest most gut wrenching five years of my life. The move itself wasn't a mistake, although I will tell you that my time there would have been easier had I listed to guidance along the way. Anyway, as a direct result, and after deciding to finally follow my guidance, I am living out more of my fullness than ever.

Lissa - we cheer you on and support you as you garner the courage to act on what you may not want to hear right now.

Key point - acting on your intuition takes COURAGE and Kim is correct - it's a matter of choice. Just remember, our own knowing goes beyond the ego and the limits of the ego. Intuition knows of possibilities that aren't even on our radar yet.

Wonderful post Audrey. We all have the gift of intuition and we all receive guidance from The Divine. We also have the free will to listen or not. I've learned so much about intuition and connection to The Divine over the past few years and when the light bulb comes on and I "get it" after while, I realize that I knew it all along, it just needed to be brought to the front of my consciousness. Intuition feels so natural now and just another part of who I am. Intuition is makes life better.

Audrey,
I think your post is a sign from the Universe for me. Three years ago, I was still ignoring the signs from the Universe. It's not that I wasn't receiving guidance. In retrospect, I can see many ways that I received guidance- and chose not to listen to it. That's when the suffering begins, eh?

Now, I am very tuned into the ways in which I receive guidance- through dreams, "coincidences" that happen just as I'm trying to make a decision, people that show up on my path right when I need them, even magical signs like the bright light out in the ocean and a shooting star that appeared and literally pointed the way for me. They arrive as hunches, as a feeling of plunking into rightness, and peaceful feelings. Sometimes they arrive to thwack me on the head (that's when I'm not listening to the whispers from the Universe, so the Universe has to scream bloody murder to be heard). Lately, I've been receiving guidance I don't want to hear. But it's very obvious guidance, nonetheless. I know I must listen, and yet, this brings with it a bit of sadness. While I must sit in the sadness for a while, I know that I am being guided to something even better...

Thanks for this lovely post, sweetie.
Deep bow,
Lissa

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